Image apparatus and operating method thereof

ABSTRACT

An image apparatus includes a pixel array, an optical modulator, a controller, and a memory device storing information of a frame memory and information of a view map. The optical modulator modulates the light emitted from the pixel array to different viewing angles. The controller generates images of a scene with different lighting profiles corresponding to different viewing angles according to the information of the frame memory and the information of the view map.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation application of U.S. application Ser.No. 17/472,591, filed on Sep. 11, 2021, which is a continuationapplication of U.S. application Ser. No. 16/136,268, filed on Sep. 20,2018. The contents of these applications are incorporated herein byreference.

BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE 1. Field of the Disclosure

The present disclosure is related to a display apparatus, and moreparticularly, to a display apparatus capable of displaying imagesshowing different colors and/or light intensities at different viewingangles.

2. Description of the Prior Art

As the display apparatus being adopted in more and more applications,the requirement for better visual effects is also raised. For example,high dynamic range (HDR) displays have been developed to show highcontrast images so the details in both the bright portion and the darkportion of an image can be seen. Although the HDR display is able toshow images with greater brightness contrast and delivers better visualeffects than the traditional display apparatus, the HDR display stillhas difficulty in showing the real light shining effects.

SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE

One embodiment of the present disclosure discloses an image apparatusincluding a pixel array, an optical modulator, a memory device, acontroller. The pixel array comprises a plurality of pixels. The opticalmodulator is configured to modulate light emitted from the pixel arrayto different viewing angles. The memory device stores information of aframe memory and information of a view map. The information of the viewmap comprises viewing vectors of at least a portion of the plurality ofpixels. The information of the frame memory comprises color informationof an object in a scene, material information of the object in thescene, and position information of the object in the scene. The positioninformation comprises surface normal vectors of the object. Thecontroller is configured to generate images of the scene with differentlighting profiles corresponding to different viewing angles according tothe information of the frame memory and the information of the view map.

Another embodiment of the present disclosure discloses a method foroperating an image apparatus. The image apparatus comprises a pixelarray, an optical modulator, a memory device, and a controller. Thepixel array comprises a plurality of pixels. The method comprises:storing information of a frame memory and information of a view map inthe memory device; modulating, by the optical modulator, light emittedfrom the pixel array to different viewing angles; and generating, by thecontroller, images of a scene with different lighting profilescorresponding to different viewing angles according to the informationof the frame memory and the information of the view map. The informationof the view map comprises viewing vectors of at least a portion of theplurality of pixels. The information of the frame memory comprises colorinformation of an object in the scene, material information of theobject in the scene, and position information of the object in thescene. The position information comprises surface normal vectors of theobject.

These and other objectives of the present disclosure will no doubtbecome obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after reading thefollowing detailed description of the embodiment that is illustrated inthe various figures and drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a display apparatus according to one embodiment of thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 2 shows a viewing scenario of the display apparatus in FIG. 1 .

FIG. 3 shows the specular light reflection on an object of the scenedisplayed by the display apparatus in FIG. 1 .

FIG. 4 shows the specular light reflection profile corresponding todifferent materials.

FIG. 5 shows the data structure of the frame memory according to oneembodiment of the present disclosure.

FIGS. 6A-6E shows the images of a static scene of the display apparatusof FIG. 1 from five viewing angles according to one embodiment of thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 7 shows a display apparatus according to another embodiment of thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 8 shows the usage scenario of the scan system of FIG. 7 .

FIG. 9 shows a scan system according to another embodiment of thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 10 shows a flow chart of a method for operating the displayapparatus of FIG. 1 in accordance with one embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 11 shows a flow chart of a method 500 for operating the displayapparatus of FIG. 7 in accordance with one embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The terms “about” and “substantially” as used herein is inclusive of thestated value and means within an acceptable range of deviation for theparticular value as determined by one of ordinary skill in the art,considering the measurement in question and the error associated withmeasurement of the particular quantity (i.e., the limitations of themeasurement system). For example, “substantially” can mean within one ormore standard deviations, or within .+−0.20%, .+−0.15%, .+−0.10%,.+−0.5%, .+−0.3% of the stated value. It is noted that the term “same”may also refer to “about” because of the process deviation or theprocess fluctuation.

It should be noted that the elements or devices in the drawings of thepresent disclosure may be present in any form or configuration known tothose skilled in the art. In addition, the expression “a layer isdisposed above another layer”, “a layer is disposed on another layer”and “a layer is disposed over another layer” may indicate that the layeris in direct contact with the other layer, or that the layer is not indirect contact with the other layer, there being one or moreintermediate layers disposed between the layer and the other layer.

One advantage of the display apparatus of the present disclosure isshowing the real light shining effect in a static scene. To show thereal light shining effects, people may see different lighting profileson the same object when watching the display from different viewingpositions. For example, some objects, such as the butterfly wings andthe bubbles, can scatter the light and produce structural colors. Inthis case, people may see different colors and/or light intensities whenlooking at the object from different positions. However, theconventional display can only show unchanged reflection profile of astatic scene corresponding to different viewing angles.

FIG. 1 shows a display apparatus 100 according to one embodiment of thepresent disclosure. The display apparatus 100 includes a publicinformation display apparatus, an automobile display apparatus, abusiness exhibition display apparatus, or other suitable displayapparatus. The display apparatus 100 includes a first pixel array 110,an optical modulator 120, and a controller 130.

In some embodiments, the first pixel array 110 can generate differentgrey levels of colors to display images. The first pixel array 110 mayinclude a display medium. For example, the display medium may include aliquid crystal, a light-emitting diode (LED), an organic light-emittingdiode (OLED), a mini light-emitting diode, a micro light-emitting diode,a quantum dot, a fluorescence, a phosphor, a display medium of otherkinds, or a combination thereof. However, the present disclosure is notlimited thereto. In some other embodiments, the first pixel array 110may use other types of pixel array to display the images according tothe system requirement.

In some examples, the optical modulator 120 is disposed on the firstpixel array 110, and may be able to modulate the light emitted from thefirst pixel array 110 to corresponding angles. The optical modulator 120can be, for example but not limited to, lenticular lens, liquid crystal(LC) grin lens, parallax barrier, LC parallax barrier, or other suitableoptical components that can modulate the light.

With the optical modulator 120, the light emitted by at least a portionof the pixels in the first pixel array 110 can be modulated to differentviewing angles. For example, FIG. 2 shows a viewing scenario of thedisplay apparatus 100. In FIG. 2 , the light emitted by the pixels PA1,PA2, and PA3 may be modulated to the same viewing region A while thelight emitted by the pixels PB1, PB2, and PB3 may be modulated to thesame viewing region B. Therefore, when viewing the display apparatus100, the eyes of the viewer watching the display apparatus 100 at theviewing region A will see the image displayed by the pixels PA1, PA2,and PA3, and the eyes of the viewer watching the display apparatus 100at the viewing region B will see the image displayed by the pixels PB1,PB2, and PB3.

The controller 130 can generate the images for the same scene withdifferent lighting profiles (e.g. colors and/or light intensities)corresponding to different viewing angles, and the display apparatus 100will display the images through the first pixel array 110 at the sametime. That is, the images generated by the controller 130 can becorresponding to the same scene with the same objects but with differentlighting profiles corresponding to different viewing angles, so theviewer will see the same objects with different lighting profiles indifferent viewing angles, simulating the real shining effects andimproving the visual effects.

For example, in reality, the intensity of reflected light received bythe viewer is varied with the viewing angles, and the variance of lightintensity may have a sharper peak if the object has a smoother surface.That is, if the object is made by metal and has a smoother surface, thereflected light may only be seen from a narrow scope of viewing angles.With the display apparatus 100, the viewer may only see the reflectionwhen he/she enters that scope of viewing angles. Therefore, therealistic lighting effects can be simulated by the display apparatus100, providing the desired visual effect.

In FIG. 1 , the display apparatus 100 may further include a second pixelarray 140. In this case, the optical modulator 120 can be disposedbetween the first pixel array 110 and the second pixel array 140. Thesecond pixel array 140 can further modulate the light passing throughthe optical modulator 120; therefore, the resolution of the image can befurther improved. In some embodiments, some of the layers (e.g.polarizers) of the first pixel array 110 and some of the layers of thesecond pixel array 140 can be disposed in a crossing manner to reducethe Moiré effect. In some examples, the optical modulator 120 may bedisposed in a slanting manner to the first pixel array 110 and/or thesecond pixel array 140.

In some embodiments, one of the first pixel array 110 and the secondpixel array 140 may include a color filter layer. For example, the firstpixel array 110 can display the images with single-colored grey levels(e.g. monochrome), and the second pixel array 140 can display the imageswith multiple-colored grey levels. That is, the first pixel array 110may be used to control the brightness distribution and the second pixelarray 140 may be used to control the color distribution. However, insome other embodiments, the first pixel array 110 may display the imageswith multiple-colored grey levels, and the second pixel array 140 maydisplay the images in monochrome. Furthermore, the display device 100may also omit the second pixel array 140 in some other embodiments.

Also, to generate the images with different lighting profilescorresponding to different viewing angles, the display apparatus 100also needs the information of the object(s) in the scene. Therefore, asshown in FIG. 1 , in one embodiment, the display apparatus 100 may alsoinclude at least one memory device 135 to store the information of alight map 150, a view map 160, and a frame memory 170. The controller130 can generate the images according to the information of the lightmap 150, the view map 160, and the frame memory 170.

The information of the light map 150 may include the intensities andlocations of the light in the ambient environment for viewing the scene.In some embodiments, the light map 150 may be an image showing theexistence of all surrounding light. In the light map 150, the intensityof the light at each spatial location can be recorded in thecorresponding pixel of the image.

In some embodiments, the light map can be designed by the computergraphic (CG) rendering software, and the light map 150 can be generatedby the CG rendering software as well. However, in some otherembodiments, the display apparatus 100 may further include a lightcapturing device 190 to generate the information to be stored in thelight map 150 of the real viewing environment. For example, the lightcapturing device 190 can be a fisheye camera and can record theintensities and the locations of the light in the ambient environmentfor generating the light map. The light map 150 can be stored in afisheye format, an equi-rectangular format, or a cubical format.

The information of the view map 160 may include the viewing vectors ofat least a portion of pixels in the first pixel array 110. In someexamples, the viewing vector may include the information of the lightpath emitted from a pixel through the optical modulator 120. Forexample, in FIG. 2 , the light path may be denoted as a viewingdirection, the viewing directions VA1, VA2, VA3 of the pixels PA1, PA2,and PA3 would be recorded in the view map 160. In some embodiments, theviewing directions VA1, VA2, and VA3 can be stored in forms of vectorsor in forms of vector IDs. In some embodiments, if the lenticular lensis adopted as the optical modulator 120, the viewing vector may be a 1dimensional value representing the viewing angles on the same plane asthe objects. In this case, the view map 160 can be corresponding to atleast a portion of the pixels in the first pixel array 110, and thevalue of the pixel in the view map 160 would be the 1 dimensional valueof the viewing angle. In other examples, the viewing vector may be a 2dimensional value and may be shown as (x, y). It may depend on theoptical modulator used in the display apparatus.

Also, since the viewing vectors of the pixels are related to themodulation caused by the optical modulator 120, the viewing vectors ofthe pixels may be known factors to the display apparatus 100 when theparameters of the optical modulator 120 are determined, and thus viewingvectors can be preliminarily saved in the memory during manufacturing.However, in some other embodiments, the viewing vectors can also bederived by measurement. In this case, the inaccuracy caused duringmanufacturing can be calibrated, thereby improving the accuracy.

The information of the frame memory 170 may include the colorinformation, the material information and the position information ofthe objects in the scene. In examples, the frame memory 170 may includea format of the input video frame. The light map and the view map may bestored in one memory device, while the frame memory may be stored inanother memory device. In some examples, other information may be addedinto the frame memory 170. In one embodiment, to render the images intothe scene may require the consideration of at least two different typesof light, and the at least two different types of light may be thediffused light and the specular light. The diffused light can be seen asthe ambient light and can help to show the intrinsic color of theobject. In some examples, the diffused light may not be changed whenchanging the viewing angles. The specular light may be reflected lightcorresponding to different viewing angles, and the viewer may seedifferent levels (and different colors) of reflected light according tothe viewing angles.

Since the diffused light is rather straight forward for showing theintrinsic color of the objects, it can be seen as the color informationof the object and may be stored in the frame memory 170.

However, deriving the reflection of the specular light may be morecomplicated. FIG. 3 shows the specular light reflection on an object Oof the scene. In FIG. 3 , the reflection vector RV can be derivedaccording to the lighting vector LV of the light source and the surfacenormal vector NV of the object O. In some embodiments, the positioninformation of the objects stored in the frame memory 170 can includethe surface normal vector NV of the object O. Also, the lighting vectorLV can be generated according to the information stored in the lightmap. Therefore, with the locations of the light stored in the light map150 and the surface normal vectors stored in the frame memory 170, thecontroller 130 would be able to derive the reflection vectors ofspecular light.

Since the intensities of the reflection can be seen by the viewer arealso related to the viewing vector VV and the material of the object Oas aforementioned, the controller 130 will further derive intensities ofthe specular light according to the viewing vectors stored in the viewmap 150, the material information of the objects stored in the framememory 170, and the reflection vectors of the specular light derivedpreviously.

FIG. 4 shows the specular light reflection profile corresponding todifferent materials. In FIG. 4 , Y axis represents the intensity of theobject O while X axis represents the angle between the reflection vector(e.g. the reflection vector RV) and the viewing vector (e.g. the viewingvector VV).

In FIG. 4 , the material M1 may have a smooth surface. For example, thematerial M1 may be a polished metal. Therefore, the intensity of thereflected light on the surface of the material M1 may be greater whenthe angle between the viewing vectors and the reflection vector israther small, and the intensity distributions are centralized.

However, in FIG. 4 , the material M2 may have a surface capable ofgenerating the structural light. For example, the material M2 may be thecompact disk (CD), or the butterfly wings. In this case, the intensitiesof the red reflected light, the green reflected light, and the bluereflected light on the surface of the material M2 may have differentdistributions, and, thus, the viewer may see different colors whenwatching the display apparatus 100 from different position. The materialM3 may be different from the materials M1 and M2. Therefore, thereflection profile is different from the reflection profiles of thematerials M1 and M2.

Since the calculation for the lighting profile for different materialscan be complicated, the display apparatus 100 can store the reflectionprofiles for different materials in a lookup table in advance in someembodiments. Therefore, the reflection intensity can be derived with thelookup table by inputting the material type, and the angle between theviewing vector and the reflection vector. In some examples, the anglemay be a function of the light map, the view map, and the positioninformation.

In this case, the material information can be stored as the material ID.That is, different types of materials can correspond to different IDs.With the material ID and the angle between the reflection vector and theviewing vector, the corresponding reflection profile can be retrievedfrom the lookup table.

Consequently, the controller 130 would be able to generate the images ofthe scene by combining the diffused light effect and the specular lighteffect according to the color information of the objects and theintensities of the specular light.

Since the display apparatus 100 can use the lookup table to retrieve therequired reflected lighting profile, the complicated computation can bereduced, thereby allowing the display apparatus 100 to generate theimages of the scene for real time video.

FIG. 5 shows the data structure of the frame memory 170 according to oneembodiment of the present disclosure. In FIG. 5 , the information storedin the frame memory 170 can be stored by multiple frames F1 to FM (M isa positive integer greater than 1), each frame corresponding to animage. In this case, the color information of the objects in frame F1can be stored with a plurality of pixels PR₁ to PR_(N) and a pluralityof pixels PM₁ to PM_(N), wherein N is a positive integer greater than 1.At least one of the pixels PR₁ to PR_(N) includes the intensity of thered sub-pixel (R), the green sub-pixel (G), and the blue sub-pixel (B).Also, the position information and the material information of theobjects can also be stored by the format of pixels PM₁ to PM_(N) in thesame frame. In FIG. 5 , one of the pixel PM₁ to PM_(N) is correspondingto a pixel of the pixels PR₁ to PR_(N), and includes the two dimensionalnormal vector (NX, NY) and the material ID MID. That is, in FIG. 5 , atleast one of the frames may be divided into at least two parts: one forthe color information R, G, and B while another one for the normalvectors NX and NY and the material ID MID. However, the presentdisclosure is not limited by the storing order shown in FIG. 5 . In someother embodiments, pixels PR₁ to PR_(N) and pixels PM₁ to PM_(N) can bestored in a different order, such as interleaving lines, according tothe system requirement.

Although the reflection profile shown in FIG. 4 is corresponding to onedimensional angle (along X axis), in some other embodiments, the lookuptable can include at least two dimensional table for two dimensionalangles. In this case, the anisotropic reflection effect produced by theobjects such as the cat eye stone can also be presented by the displayapparatus 100.

Furthermore, although the frame memory 170 may store the material IDsand the surface normal vectors for deriving the reflected lightingprofile, in some other embodiments, the frame memory 170 may store othertypes of information for deriving the reflected lighting profileaccording to the system requirement.

For example, in some other embodiments, the position information of theobjects stored in the frame memory 170 can include the depth informationof the objects, and the material information of the objects stored inthe frame memory 170 can include the refractive indices and coarseparameters of the objects. In this case, the controller 130 may generatethe images of the scene by calculation according to the informationstored in the light map 150, the view map 160, and the frame memory 170.Therefore, the lookup table may be omitted.

In addition, in some embodiments, the display apparatus 100 may generatemulti-layered frame data for the object to simulate the transparency andinterface reflection effects, thereby making the images of the scenelook even more realistic.

Furthermore, in FIG. 1 , the display apparatus 100 can further includean eye tracking device 180. The eye tracking device 180 can track theposition of the viewer. In this case, the controller 130 can generatethe images according to the information stored in the light map, theview map, and the frame memory, and the position of the viewer. Sincethe position of the viewer can be detected, the display apparatus 100can dedicatedly generate the images of the scene corresponding to theviewing directions that are within a region near to the position of theviewer.

In this case, the display apparatus 100 can provide adaptive viewingangles according to the tracked position of the viewer. Therefore, therange of the viewing angles can be wider, and the jumping issue (or thediscontinuous images) caused by the fixed viewing angles may bedecreased. Also, since the controller 130 may generate fewer imagescorresponding to the viewing angles within the position of the viewer,unnecessary computation for images outside of the region may be skipped,thereby saving the power consumption and the calculation resource.

FIGS. 6A-6E shows the images of a static scene of the display apparatus100 from five viewing angles according to one embodiment of the presentdisclosure. In other word, when the display apparatus 100 shows a staticscene, the viewer may see images with different colors and/or lightintensities at different viewing angles. For example, when the viewerchanges the viewing angle, the viewer may sequentially see FIGS. 6A to6E.

FIG. 7 shows a display apparatus 200 according to another embodiment ofthe present disclosure. The display apparatus 200 has a similarstructure as the display apparatus 100, and can be operated with similarprinciples as the display apparatus 100. However, the display apparatus200 further includes a scan system 290 for generating the informationstored in the light map 150 and/or the frame memory 170 in a real scene.

The scan system 290 can include a light source 292 and a light capturingdevice 294 (e.g. a camera). FIG. 8 shows the usage scenario of the scansystem 290. In FIG. 8 , the light source 292 can revolve around theobject OA to cast light on the object OA from different angles while thedistance between the light source 292 and the object OA may remainconstant. In some examples, the distance between the light source 292and the object OA may be varied. In some embodiments, the light source292 can be implemented by a spot light, a light bar or other differenttypes of light sources. The light capturing device 294 can capture theimages of the object OA in the scene with the light being casted fromdifferent locations. In some embodiments, the light source 292 can bedisposed above or below the object OA so that the light source 292 maynot appear in the images captured by the light capturing device 294. Inother examples, the light source 292 can be disposed in the same levelas the object OA.

In some embodiments, the light source 292 may revolve around the objectOA for a total of 180 degrees and shifting 1 degree at a time. In thiscase, the light capturing device 294 will capture an image whenever thelight source 292 moves to the next position so a total of 180 differentlighting profiles of the object OA can be derived. However, in someembodiments, the total revolving degree may be in a range from 30degrees to 360 degrees, such as 60 degrees, 120 degrees, 150 degrees, or270 degrees. The degree of one revolving step may be in a range from 0.1degrees to 60 degrees. But the present disclosure is not limitedthereto. Also, in one example, the total revolving degree and the degreeof one revolving step can be determined according to the pitch of theoptical modulator 120.

Consequently, the scan system 290 can generate the information to bestored in the light map and/or frame memory 170 according to the imagescaptured by the light capturing device 294 and/or the locations of thelight source 292.

In some embodiments, the scan system 290 can further include more lightsources. FIG. 9 shows a scan system 390 according to another embodimentof the present disclosure. The scan system 390 includes light sources392A₁ to 392A_(N), and N is a positive integer greater than 1. The lightsources 392A₁ to 392A_(N) disposed on the circumference of the circlewith the object OA being at the center of the circle. Also, the centralangles between two adjacent light sources of the light sources 392A₁ to392A_(N) may be substantially equal. In some embodiments, the lightsources 392A₁ to 392A_(N) are disposed above or below the object OA sothat the light sources 392A₁ to 392A_(N) will not appear in the imagescaptured by the light capturing device 394. In other examples, the lightsources 392A₁ to 392A_(N) may be disposed in the same level as theobject OA.

In one embodiment, the light sources 392A₁ to 392A_(N) can revolvearound the object OA within a predetermined range. For example, thelight sources 392A₁ may move from the current position to the positionnext to the light source 392A₂ in FIG. 9 , and for example but notlimited to, 1 degree at a time. Also, the light sources 392A₁ to392A_(N) can move and cast light sequentially, so the light capturingdevice 394 can capture the image of the object OA with differentlighting profiles one at a time.

In FIG. 8 and FIG. 9 , the light sources can revolve around the objectOA; however, in some other embodiments, the light sources can also befixed at the same positions. For example, in some embodiments, if thenumber N of the light sources 392A₁ to 392A_(N) is large enough, thelight sources 392A₁ to 392A_(N) may be fixed on the circumference of thecircle with the object OA being at the center of the circle, and thelight sources 392A₁ to 392A_(N) can cast the light on the object OA fromthe different locations sequentially.

Alternatively, in FIG. 8 , if the light source 292 is fixed at the sameposition, the light capturing device 294 may revolve around the objectOA as the object OA spins synchronously. Therefore, the light capturingdevice 292 will capture the images of the same side of the object OAwith different lighting profiles, and the images can be used to generatethe information required by the display apparatus 100.

FIG. 10 shows a flow chart of a method 400 for operating the displayapparatus 100 in accordance with one embodiment of the presentdisclosure. The method 400 includes steps S410 to S480. Some of thesteps may be omitted as another embodiment of the present disclosure. Inone example, the step S420 may be omitted. In one embodiment, thesequence of the steps S410 to S480 may be changed or integrated as onestep. In one example, the step S430 may be performed before the stepS410. In other examples, the step S420 may be performed after the stepS450 or the step S480. In some examples, the steps S430, S440 and/orS450 may be integrated as one step. But the present disclosure is notlimited thereto.

S410: the light capturing device 190 records the intensities and thelocations of the light in the ambient environment for generating theinformation that would be subsequently stored in the light map 150and/or the frame memory 170;

S420: the eye tracking device 180 tracks the position of the viewer;

S430: store the intensities and locations of light in the ambientenvironment for viewing the scene as the light map 150 in at least onememory device 135;

S440: store the viewing vectors of the pixels in the first pixel array110 in at least one memory device 135;

S450: store the color information, the material information and theposition information of objects in the scene as the frame memory 170 inat least one memory device 135;

S460: the controller 130 generates the images of the scene withdifferent lighting profiles corresponding to different viewing anglesaccording to information stored in the light map 150, the view map 160,the frame memory 170 and the position of the viewer;

S470: the display apparatus 100 displays the images through the firstpixel array 110 at the same time;

S480: the optical modulator 120 modulates the light emitted from thefirst pixel array 110 to corresponding angles.

In step S410, the light capturing device 190 can record the intensitiesand the locations of the light in the ambient environment for generatingthe information that would be stored in the light map 150 and/or theframe memory 170. However, in some embodiments, the intensities andlocations of light in the ambient environment that stored in the lightmap 150 may be generated by the computer graphic rendering software. Insome examples, the light capturing device 190 may be omitted, and stepS410 can be skipped.

In addition, the display apparatus 100 can generate the imagescorresponding to the position of the viewer based on the tracking resultof the eye tracking device 180 in step S420. However, in someembodiments, the display apparatus 100 may also omit the eye trackingdevice 180. In this case, the controller 130 may generate the imagescorresponding to any possible viewing angles supported by the displayapparatus 100 according to the information stored in the light map 150,the view map 160, and the frame memory 170, without considering theposition of the viewer. That is, step S420 may be skipped.

In some embodiments, the position information of the objects in thescene stored in the frame memory 170 can include the surface normalvectors of the objects. In this case, in the step S460, the controller130 may derive the reflection vectors of specular light according to thesurface normal vectors stored in the frame memory 170 and the locationsof the light stored in the light map 150 at first. Then, the controller130 may derive the intensities of the specular light according to thereflection vectors of the specular light, the viewing vectors stored inthe view map 160, and the material information of the objects stored inthe frame memory 170 with a lookup table. Finally, the controller 130can generate the images to show the color information of the objects andthe intensities of the specular light by combining the lighting effectscaused by the diffused light and the specular light.

With the lookup table storing the reflected lighting profiles ofdifferent materials, the method 400 can save significant computationoverhead and allow the display apparatus 100 to generate the images soonenough to present a real time video, providing even more astonishingvisual effects.

However, in some other embodiments, the position information of theobjects stored in the frame memory 170 may include the depth informationof the objects, and the material information of the objects stored inthe frame memory 170 may include the refractive indices and coarseparameters of the objects. In this case, the controller 130 may generatethe images of the scene by calculation according to the informationstored in the light map 150, the view map 160, and the frame memory 170.Therefore, the lookup table may be omitted.

Furthermore, the method 400 is not limited by the order shown in FIG. 10. For example, in some embodiments, steps S410 and S420 may be performedin parallel, and steps S430 to S450 may be performed in parallel.

FIG. 11 shows a flow chart of a method 500 for operating the displayapparatus 200. The method 500 includes steps S510 to S530.

S510: the light source 292 revolves around the object OA in the sceneand cast light on the object OA from different angles;

S520: the light capturing device 294 captures the images of the objectOA in the scene with light casted from different angles; and

S530: the scan system 290 generates the information to be stored in thelight map 150 and/or the frame memory 170 according to the imagescaptured by the light capturing device 294.

With the method 500, the scan system 290 would be able to generate theinformation to be stored in the light map 150 and/or the frame memory170 so the display apparatus 100 can generate the images accordingly. Insome embodiments, if the light source 292 is fixed at the same spot,then, instead of performing step S510, the light capturing device 294may revolve around the object OA as the object OA spins synchronously tocapture the images with the light from different angles.

Also, in some embodiments, for example, in the scan system 390, aplurality of light sources 392A₁ to 392A_(N) can be disposed on thecircumference of the circle with the object being at the center of thecircle. In this case, the method 500 can also be applied and the lightsources 392A₁ to 392A_(N) can revolve around the object OA within apredetermined angle to cast light on the object OA from different anglesin step S510. Also, the light sources 392A₁ to 392A_(N) can move andcast light sequentially, so the light capturing device 394 can capturethe image of the object OA with different lighting profiles. However, insome other embodiments, the light sources 392A₁ to 392A_(N) can bedisposed in a fixed spot and cast the light on the object OA fromdifferent angles sequentially.

By moving the light sources 292, and 392A₁ to 392A_(N) or moving thelight capturing devices 294 and 394, the different lighting profiles onthe object OA can be captured, and the scan systems 290 and 390 cangenerate the information to be stored in the light map 150 and/or theframe memory 170 accordingly.

In summary, the display apparatus and the method for operating thedisplay apparatus provided by the embodiments of the present disclosurecan generate images for the same scene (e.g. a static scene) withdifferent lighting profiles corresponding to different viewing angles,so the viewer can see different lighting results (e.g. different lightintensities and/or colors) of the scene when viewing the displayapparatus from different angles. Therefore the display apparatus cansimulate the light shining effect in reality and provides a bettervisual experience to the viewers. In addition, with the scan systemsprovided by the embodiments of the present disclosure, the informationrequired by generating images of different viewing angles can bederived, allowing the display apparatus to be applied in even morefields.

Those skilled in the art will readily observe that numerousmodifications and alterations of the device and method may be made whileretaining the teachings of the disclosure. Accordingly, the abovedisclosure should be construed as limited only by the metes and boundsof the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. An image apparatus comprising: a pixel arraycomprising a plurality of pixels; an optical modulator configured tomodulate light emitted from the pixel array to different viewing angles;a memory device storing information of a frame memory and information ofa view map, wherein the information of the view map comprises viewingvectors of at least a portion of the plurality of pixels, theinformation of the frame memory comprises color information of an objectin a scene, material information of the object in the scene, andposition information of the object in the scene, and the positioninformation comprises surface normal vectors of the object; and acontroller configured to generate images of the scene with differentlighting profiles corresponding to different viewing angles according tothe information of the frame memory and the information of the view map.2. The image apparatus of claim 1, wherein the memory device storesinformation of a light map, and the controller is configured to generatethe images further according to the information of the light map.
 3. Theimage apparatus of claim 2, wherein the information of the light mapcomprises intensities and locations of light in an ambient environmentfor viewing the scene.
 4. The image apparatus of claim 2, furthercomprising a light capturing device for generating the information ofthe light map.
 5. The image apparatus of claim 2, further comprising ascan system comprising: a plurality of light sources disposed atdifferent locations and configured to cast light on the object in thescene from different angles; and a light capturing device configured tocapture images of the object in the scene with light from differentangles.
 6. The image apparatus of claim 5, wherein the plurality oflight sources are disposed on a circumference of a circle with theobject being at a center of the circle.
 7. The image apparatus of claim5, wherein the scan system is configured to generate information to bestored in the light map and the frame memory according to the imagescaptured by the light capturing device.
 8. The image apparatus of claim1, wherein the controller is further configured to derive intensities ofspecular light according to the surface normal vectors of the object inthe frame memory.
 9. The image apparatus of claim 1, wherein theposition information further comprises depth information of the object.10. The image apparatus of claim 1, wherein the material information ofthe object comprises refractive indices and coarse parameters of theobject.
 11. The image apparatus of claim 1, wherein the pixel arrayfurther comprises a color filter layer.
 12. The image apparatus of claim1, further comprising an eye tracking device configured to track aposition of a viewer, wherein the controller is configured to generatethe images further according to the position of the viewer.
 13. Theimage apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a scan system comprising:at least one light source configured to revolve around the object in thescene and cast light on the object from different angles; and a lightcapturing device configured to capture images of the object in the scenewith light being casted from different angles.
 14. The image apparatusof claim 1, wherein the pixel array further comprises a display medium.15. A method for operating an image apparatus, the image apparatuscomprising a pixel array, an optical modulator, a memory device, and acontroller, the pixel array comprising a plurality of pixels, and themethod comprising: storing information of a frame memory and informationof a view map in the memory device, wherein the information of the viewmap comprises viewing vectors of at least a portion of the plurality ofpixels, the information of the frame memory comprises color informationof an object in a scene, material information of the object in thescene, and position information of the object in the scene, and theposition information comprises surface normal vectors of the object;modulating light emitted from the pixel array to different viewingangles by the optical modulator; and generating images of the scene withdifferent lighting profiles corresponding to different viewing anglesaccording to the information of the frame memory and the information ofthe view map by the controller.
 16. The method of claim 15, furthercomprising: displaying the images in the display apparatus through thepixel array at a same time.
 17. The method of claim 15, furthercomprising storing information of a light map in the memory device. 18.The method of claim 15, further comprising: deriving intensities ofspecular light according to the surface normal vectors of the object inthe frame memory by the controller.
 19. The method of claim 15, furthercomprising: revolving around the object in the scene and casting lighton the object from different angles by at least one light source; andcapturing images of the object in the scene with light being casted fromdifferent angles by a light capturing device.
 20. The method of claim15, further comprising: disposing a plurality of light sources atdifferent locations to cast light on the object in the scene fromdifferent angles; and capturing images of the object in the scene withlight from different angles by a light capturing device.